


A Changeling Prince

by Leonawriter



Category: Labyrinth (1986), Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fae, Changelings, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-10-27
Updated: 2013-10-26
Packaged: 2017-12-30 14:12:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1019584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leonawriter/pseuds/Leonawriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack's mother was English, and had read the book many times as a child.  She might not have thought much of it, if not for the rumours of a girl a friend of a friend had known.  And so, she wished with all her might when the world was falling down around her, that her son would be safe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Changeling Prince

Sarah was on holiday when Jareth passed her the goblin-written note with a smirk and a raised eyebrow that could have made her want to either kiss him senseless or punch that pretty face of his so hard he went out cold.  She was taking some kind of martial art as a club thing in the middle of her uni classes.  She could have if she’d wanted to enough.

"For you, love."

Instead, she just rolled her eyes as she took it, knowing damn well what it was.  Some stupid poor soul had wished their baby away, and she was the one who’d be lumped with going and asking if they wanted to challenge the labyrinth to get them back.

It’d come up so many times since they’d started dating - well, she _called_ it dating, but it really involved her having a free pass into the Underground whenever she felt like it, and the goblins and Fae both in the Under- and Over-ground treating her like Fae _royalty_ , but technicalities, right? - where he’d ask her what she’d do if such a thing came up, and they’d argue, and it usually ended with Sarah both putting it off and storming off to another part of the castle - or indeed the city - to get her head back on straight.

She was starting to accept that she wasn’t entirely, ah, _human,_ after all this time, but the idea of what some of that meant still made her insides squirm.  Especially when she realised that some part of her wasn’t bothered at all.

Still. The magic of the Underground rose up to meet her, robing her in a stately dress fitting of a queen (Jareth had asked plenty of times, but she’d keep him waiting, damn it, because _life wasn’t fair_ , and she didn’t want to give in that easily), and allowed herself to be pulled up to where the call had come from, leaving the Goblin King to his kingdom.

She found herself in what she could only call a _warzone_.  She’d olny read about them in text books before, and the kind of wars that took place in the Underground were never so dirty, nor so full of terror and pain that she could feel right down to her bones, even now.

Yet she found herself walking, dress unmarred by the landscape, towards a woman and her child.

The woman saw her coming.  No one should have been able to if they hadn’t been the one to call her - well, Jareth, but since Jareth had discovered this amazing thing called _diplomacy_ some time ago, there was little difference - and so, it could only have come from her.

She was young.  Dark, straight hair much like Sarah’s own would have flowed down her shoulders if it weren’t for the mud and - was that _blood_ \- that caused it to stick together.  Pale skin, wearing clothes that suggested a casual morning, not this, this… whatever it had turned into.

"I," the woman coughed.  Sarah wasn’t even taking first aid any more, and she knew that didn’t sound good.  "I wished for the goblin king.  For him to, to take… my son away."

The woman was crying.  Had been for some time. 

"The king’s unavailable right now," Sarah said, the half-lie flowing off her tongue like silver.  He could have come, but at the same time, their agreement forbade it, in some ways.  "I’m here instead.  Let me ask you one thing.  I’m human enough for that."

The woman nodded, coughing once more.

"Are you _sure_ about this?” The baby made several strange, complaining noises, almost as though he knew what was going on. “If you let me take him, you might never see him again.  He wouldn’t be human any more if no one challenged the labyrinth for him.  He-“

But she was smiling.

"All I want is the goblin king’s word… your word… that he’ll be safe.  You can make sure he’s safe, right?"  She coughed again, and in the distance Sarah could hear shouting in another language, one whose meaning was translated directly into her head even if she didn’t know the words.

 _"Check for_ _survivors!_ " and, _“They’re closing off the island!”_

"And… please, just- please… _don’t let his father find him.”_

Sarah wanted to give the baby back, not much older than Toby had been, this one - couldn’t be more than two, at best - but the mother’s words were sealing her into a binding promise, a contract, almost.

Keep him safe.  Keep him secret, keep him safe.

Her arms simply adjusted themselves around him, making him as comfortable as she could.  It’d been so long since Toby had grown too big for this, and she hadn’t had the opportunity, since.

She looked back at the woman only to find that she wasn’t moving.  She’d spent her last breaths trying to convince Sarah.

The boy started to cry, and she rocked him as the faerie magic took them both back into the Underground.

Jareth stared.  The rest of the goblins followed suit, never missing a chance to copy their king and hope he’d favour them, but maybe also noticing that Sarah looked like she was ready to cry, as she hadn’t since the day she’d wished for Jareth that first time since the labyrinth itself, when her father had died.

A piece of paper found its way out of the baby’s blankets, fluttering almost to the ground before Scat the goblin picked it out of the air and carried it to the king.

 _His name is Jack Atlas,_ it read. _If he ever asks, tell him his mother loved him enough to believe in an old fairy tale. Please keep him safe.  That’s truly all I want.  -Emily._

"Well," Jareth said, a strange tone in his voice after reading the note. "It seems we’ve thoroughly been had.  Well, well, well… let’s see the damage, shall we?"

Sarah, used to his highness enough by now to know that he was for once being serious, held out the boy, which he took, looking into two large, purple eyes.

Jack looked back at him, and started to bawl.

"You know," Jareth said, handing him back over to Sarah, who started immediately to fuss, "he does sort of remind me of you when we first met."

Sarah sent him a dirty look.  _Really?_

"He more reminds me of you," she said as she bounced him on her knee, trying to forget what she’d seen. "All blond and wanting his own way."

"Careful what you wish for, love," he chided, a small smile playing about that mouth of his.

Of course.  No one who stayed in the Underground for too long stayed entirely human.  Babies, of course, were included in this.  Those wished away, more than any.


End file.
